


Merry Christmas Mister!

by Evora Layne (CreativeCreature)



Series: Original Work By Evora Layne [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Miracle, Feel-good, Gen, Heart Warming, Original Story - Freeform, PTSD, PTSD dog, Please do not copy, School writing assignment, christmas cheer, homeless, homeless veteran, original short story, please do not steal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 11:37:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8978116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativeCreature/pseuds/Evora%20Layne
Summary: A young homeless man and his dog witness a christmas miracle at the hands of a 10 year old girl and her family





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A man and his dog](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/250153) by Unknown. 



> This was a school writing assignment where I had to write a short story inspired by a picture of a homeless man with a dog curled up in his lap. Since it is around Christmas, I decided to write a heartwarming story about the spirit of Christmas, Christmas cheer and giving to those in need

Merry Christmas Mister!  
A story of Christmas Cheer and giving to those in need 

It was a cold winter morning. James wrapped his arms tighter around himself and shivered. Life was hard when living on the streets. The familiar whine of his faithful companion of around 8 years broke him from his thoughts. He looked down and into the loving, warm eyes of Elaine, the golden retriever who had been by his side since he lost everything in the Great Recession. 

“Hey Sweet Girl.” he whispered, his voice gravelly from lack of use. Elaine’s iron tail hit the ground in soft thumps, showcasing her youthful spirit despite her older age. James laughed and patted his lap, his grin widening when Elaine leaped up and showed just how much a lap dog she truly was. James wrapped his arms around her, happy to have such a warm and loyal friend. They sat there for what felt like hours, just watching the people walk by, ignorant of what ailed the young man sitting with a full grown dog curled up in his lap.

“Look Mommy! That puppy looks just like Baxy!” Both James and Elaine looked up when they heard the young sounding cheer. A small red haired girl, who couldn’t have been more than 10 years old, stood grinning and pointing at the shivering duo. James couldn’t help but smile when the girl started dragging her poor mother over, declaring that she was going to pet the puppy.

“Ellie honey, it might not even be friendly! Ellie!” The ruffled mother pleaded to her apparently, temporarily deaf daughter.

James laughed, “Elaine is a cupcake! She loves children.” He said, hoping to ease the mother’s worry. The young girl reminded him of his oldest niece from the last time he saw her. Ellie grinned. 

“That’s so cool! My name is Elaine too! I was named after my grandma who was an army nurse. She’s awesome! She always tells me stories of the soldiers who she took care of. She even told me the story of how she met my grandpa.” Little Ellie struck a proud stance. “He was a soldier, you know,” James laughed.

“Well Elaine is named after the mother of Lancelot, one of King Arthur’s knights.” Ellie’s eyes went wide. “You know, she was the Queen of Benwick,” Ellie smiled. An actual queen who she shared her name with! Her friends were gonna explode!

Elaine watched as her human and the young human chatted before deciding that she no longer wanted to be ignored and did the one of the many things dogs do to gain their human pets’ attentions. She shoved her head into her human. 

James let out an oof as Elaine shoved her golden head into his chest. “Yeah, yeah, sweet girl, I get it.” He started scratching her ears. “Look Mommy! She’s smiling!” Sure enough, Elaine’s lips had stretched back in what could only be a canine version of a smile. Ellie cautiously reached out a hand to Elaine’s black nose, letting her sniff before scratched behind of her golden ears.

The two Elaine’s quickly started playing in the only way a 10 year old and a golden retriever with the mental age of a puppy could. James and Ellie’s mother watched as they bounded around each other in an odd form of tag you're it. It was a beautiful moment of childhood innocence and light. If the legends of fairies being born as a result of a child’s laughter were true, but of course, all good things must come to an end. You see James himself was a soldier in the United States Marine Corp starting from when he enlisted right after high school. He only left when he was honorably discharged after surviving a roadside IED that killed two of his brothers in arms and resulted in another losing half of his right leg. One does not go through an event such as this unscathed. 

It is common knowledge that canines have superior senses, so when Elaine stopped playing, James was immediately alert. The reason why became clear after a minute, the familiar sound of a car backfiring. Things went downhill from there. James was transported back 11 years ago to when he and his brothers were hit by a roadside bomb. Outside of his head, Ellie and her mother could only watch as Elaine whined and nudged and slobbered her tongue over her human’s hands and face, doing everything she could to bring him back down to Earth. This was her job, and a job that she did proudly and enthusiastically though she wished she didn’t have to as a PTSD/Emotional Support Animal.

Ellie’s mother could see that this was taking a toll on her daughter as tears ran down her pink cheeks; she quickly started to herd her away from the man who they couldn’t do anything to help. She couldn’t help, so why stay?

\-----

James and Elaine huddled together, trying to stay warm underneath one of their only blankets. It had been two weeks since the duo had seen Ellie and her mother. James knew that they were most likely never going to see them again. It wasn’t their fault he freaked out over nothing. Elaine whimpered and licked her rough tongue across his stubbly cheek. He reached up and tapped her nose. “Yeah sweet girl, I understand.” Everyday James thanked what ever deity he could for giving him Elaine. His sweet girl was the greatest gift he ever could have gotten. He still remembered the first day they met, how rambunctious she was after getting settled in his former home. She was his saving grace.

They sat in silence for a while, just taking in the fresh smelling air. It was a peaceful Christmas morning, not many people out, few cars crawling along the road. It was a day that James wished was repeated more frequently. 

“HEY MISTER! ELAINE!” Both James and Elaine perked up. Was that Ellie? They looked over to their right. Sure enough, Ellie was skipping down the path wearing a red dress with little gold shoes and a gold scarf topped off with a light up Santa hat. Overall, she definitely embodied the spirit of Christmas. Her mother trailed behind her holding the hand of a tall man who dragged a red wagon filled to the brim with badly wrapped presents behind him. Three older boys stood next to him, each with strikingly red hair and a mischievous smirk that just spelled trouble. A darker colored golden retriever trotted next to the red haired trio. 

Elaine barked and bolted over to Ellie, tail wagging at a million wags per second. The two Elaine’s bounded around each other, barking and laughing as if they had never separated. Ellie’s mother walked over and shook James’ hand, introducing herself in a crisp Boston accent. “I’m sorry we never introduced ourselves last time. I’m Aileen. This is my husband Ryan.” James nodded.

“It’s fine. I’m technically a stranger. The name’s James. It’s nice to meet you.” 

Aileen nodded, “Yes it is. Ellie has been talking about you and Elaine so much these past few weeks that Ryan and the boys just had to meet you.” She turned to her husband and sons and called them over. “Ryan! Boys!” They quickly came over. “I’d like you to meet James. He’s the one that Ellie has been talking about.” They all nodded and shook his hand.

“It’s nice to finally meet the man who seems to be my daughter’s newest fascination.” Aileen’s husband shook his head, “I swear that girl is getting into everything.” James laughed. Yeah, he understood perfectly. His niece was the same way.

Aileen and Ryan’s sons each stepped forward: “My name’s Henry and these are my brothers Danny and Julian.”said the tallest red headed boy, pointing to the curliest haired one then the shortest. 

“We wish you a,” started the shortest redhead.

“Merry Christmas and,” continued Henry,

“A Happy New Year!” finished the curliest. James swore he got whiplash just watching them speak. 

“It’s nice to meet you three.” James paused. “Not that I am trying to be rude, but what are you all doing here? Shouldn’t you be at home celebrating Christmas?” Aileen and her family shared a look. She went to answer but was beaten to the punch by her daughter Ellie. 

“We could but we decided to bring you some presents!” James stared at the bright girl. Bring him gifts? Nobody had brought him gifts in 7 years! He looked at Ellie’s parents, they smiled at him and nodded. He looked at Ellie’s 3 older brothers; they all smirked. He looked at Elaine as she sat next to who could only be Baxy. She wagged her tail and barked as if telling him to believe the kind family taking time out of their day to bring him Christmas presents. He looked down, how could this family be so kind and giving?

Ellie grinned. she skipped over to the wagon and handed him a large present wrapped in wrinkled red wrapping paper with holly leaves printed on it. He took it gingerly, slowly unwrapping it, as if it would disappear if he opening it too fast. His eyes went wide when he saw all the food inside. He looked up at the grinning family then at the wagon filled with similar packages then back at the family. With a mighty grin, Little Ellie wrapped him in a big hug and sang out three words that both made his day and made this the best Christmas so far, “Merry Christmas Mister!”


End file.
